Tackling Oni Island

Return to Ryoshima Coast and look for Ankoku Temple (it's marked on your map). As you approach the stairs that lead up to the temple, an apparition of Rao will appear and lead you behind the temple. Look for an opening in the cliff to the north that leads to a hidden well. Jump in!

You'll enter an underground passage that doesn't take long to traverse. Just move forward and you'll pop up just outside Queen Himiko's palace. Make your way into the palace and past the bruised handmaiden. Ride the elevator to the floor that's covered in lava. Equip the Fire Tablet if you don't already and make your way to Queen Himiko's chamber.

It's here that you'll find out what's been going on with Rao, who's been possessed by the Dark Lord. This battle with Evil Rao, like other battles in the game, can be easy if you know what to do.

First of all, we recommend using one of your rosary weapons for offense. It's important to keep constant pressure on Evil Rao to quickly wear her down, but you want to keep distance between you and the enemy while you attack. While attacking, watch Rao's movements carefully to prepare for her attacks.

Evil Rao's most frequent attacks come in the form of straight sword slashes and thrusts. If you see Evil Rao position her sword, be ready to quickly jump away to avoid the attack. Rao doesn't usually attack in combos, so you can safely go back to your offensively rush after evading her thrust.

Another attack to watch out for begins with a row of swords that Evil Rao summons from the ground. As these swords appear, you can rotate the camera and use a Power Slash to knock down all swords before they get a chance to fly. If you miss a sword or two with your brush stroke, just be ready to double jump and defend using the Snarling Beast reflector.

Evil Rao has one other attack that's difficult to see coming, but also pretty rare. She'll come down from above with her sword pointed straight at the ground. The attack is quick, but as long as you're constantly moving you should be able to avoid it most of the time. As your offense in this battle is very straight-forward, the most important factor for you is the quality of your defense.

When Evil Rao is defeated, it's time to make a beeline to Oni Island. Quickly rush out of the palace, through Sei-an City, out to Ryoshima Coast and finally to North Ryoshima Coast. Check your map for the location of Watcher's Cape (in case you forgot) and use Catwalk to climb up to the cliff. At Watcher's Cape, you'll find Otohime who helps you bridge the gap to Oni Island.

Head north to a spring of lava and use the Watersprout brush technique to create a spring with the lava. Equip the Fire Tablet and hop onto the spring to ride up to the next level. Continue north and you'll have to drop into a large pit of lava. There are passages on the left and right that lead to more lava. Look for springs to the north that you can Watersprout and escape from.

As you approach the doorway to the north, you'll be attacked by two ogres. To defeat them, attack from the rear (using the Veil of Mist works well to slow them down). After dealing lots of damage, they'll become dizzy, giving you a chance to use a Power Slash. The Power Slash will knock off their masks, letting you continue the assault from any angle. Cherry Bombs also work well.

In the next room you'll find an imp merchant, along with a strange contraption complete with a keyhole. To the east is another locked door, so head west for now. In the room off the hall to the west you'll find a pair of enemies before grabbing the Exorcising Arrow. Take the key back to the locked door to the east.

Once through the door, you'll find Tobi, a mysterious spirit that challenges you to a race. To begin the race, dash across the floor switch that Tobi's floating over and continue through the doorway that opens. You'll soon pass through a small gate that rewards you with yen if you make it there first. A second race is just ahead.

For this second race, you'll need to make your way over a floor of spikes by hopping between falling platforms. If it seems tough at first, don't worry—every time you start this race over, more panels fill the chasm to make your trip easier. Again, there's a gate ahead that'll reward you with yen when you win the race.

Further ahead, you'll have to use the Catwalk brush technique to climb a wall and make your way to the next race. This next race is very simple. Just rush forward and make sure you land on solid platforms. Dash every time you hit the ground to keep up your speed and beat Tobi. The next race, the passage of saws, is also very simple, but the timing is a bit more demanding. Just dash off the line and don't stop moving forward for a second. You need to keep up your dash while jumping and double jumping over the saws to reach the finish.

The timing on the next race, the passage of demonic wheels, is also pretty demanding. If you get hit by a wheel even just once your chances of winning the race are over. Watch the direction the wheels are moving and move Amaterasu through the gap in the wheels just slightly further to that same direction.

The next challenge is called the chamber of delay, which should clue you into the trick to this race. (A inkfinty stone may be helpful here) Use Veil of Mist to slow down time, letting you take advantage of every second you've got. As you approach the door just ahead, enemies will appear around you. You need to defeat them quickly to drop the barrier and continue through the finish gate. Keep using Veil of Mist, along with Cherry Bombs to damage the enemies quickly.

After this final race, you'll have to make it through a labyrinth of lasers. There's no time rush here, so be patient and move slowly. You can use Power Slashes to temporarily stun the statues, as well as Veil of Mist brush strokes to slow stuff down and make your trip easier. If you take too much damage, you can always restore your health via the mirror at the beginning of the labyrinth.

You'll fight through a cyclops before reaching the next race. As you run through the spiked room, draw a Cherry Bomb at the far end of the hall to blow away the wall and continue outside. There you'll find an Exorcising Arrow to grab before backtracking through the hall of spikes to unlock a door.

Just through the unlocked door is a room with a chest in the center. Approach slowly! Bamboo spikes will shoot out from the floor, and though you can Power Slash them once they're exposed they're impossible to dodge unless you move slowly. The door at the end of the hall leads to a large statue of a cat with a bow. Approach the statue and use the Rejuvenation brush technique to fill in the missing arrow and earn the Thunderstorm brush technique (the constellation requires four stars).

Test out the new brush technique when Issun says, then move through the door to use it again. This time the electrical shock will power a large spinning mechanism. Quickly run across the spinning platform to reach the other side of the chasm, then move through the next door.

Use Thunderbolt to open up the chest in the next hall, then Cherry Bomb the crack in the flooring beyond. You'll fall pretty far down before landing in a circular room. Look behind you and move through the tapestry to find the electrified key at the end of the hall. The key makes the small contraptions surrounding you react, creating solid platforms on which to walk. Take the key west, up to the top of a series of electrical platforms and use the electricity from the key to open the sword-locked door.

There's a maze of doors ahead, and while it's easy to get lost there's no consequence to going the wrong way (you'll end up finding more items, actually). Though to make sure you eventually leave the maze, watch your map and keep pushing south. If you find yourself heading north, you're probably going the wrong direction. As you might've guessed, you'll need to use a Cherry Bomb to open up the wall at the end.

Once through the maze, return to the central room with the Origin Mirror and the merchant. The electric key will open up the strange lock at the center of the room. Just past the lock is a tall statue with a nine-pronged sword. Use Thunderbolt to strike the sword with the electricity coming from the ceiling, then move through the passage that opens up.

Lava fills the next room as you enter. Position the camera so that you can strike the four eyeballs in front of you with just one Power Slash. Immediately after, bring out your brush again and spin the camera around to find a fifth eyeball behind you. Strike it to release the lava and continue to the next area.

Move left and use Thunderbolt to strike the seven-pronged sword. A bunch of wheels in the area will begin spinning, giving you platforms with which to reach the upper levels of the room. Make your way upwards until you find a wheel platform that's covered in spikes. Use a Power Slash to stop the wheel, letting you jump under it without getting hit.

Further ahead, it'll take some tricky jumping to reach a spinning platform far over head. Jump once, then jump off the wall, and finally hit the wall with a headbutt to send Amaterasu flipping backwards and onto the platform. Once you reach the top, use Inferno to burn away the wooden rods that separate you from another electric key.

The key unlocks a passage to the far right. Watch for bamboo spikes that shoot up from the floor ahead, and jump through the fast-moving holes in the rotating platforms of the next vertical hall.

After passing to the next area, look for another electric key to the west. Grab it, then head upstairs to move across a bunch of electric walkways. Use Veil of Mist to get past the fast-moving blocking spider, then drop the key once you've reached the top tower to drop through the floor.

Pick up the Exorcising Arrow in the room and use a Cherry Bomb to blow open the cracked wall (the crack barely shows from behind a scroll). Just through the blown out wall is a lock the Exorcising Arrow will open, letting you upstairs to another race with Tobi.

Dash across the floor switch to start the race and use Veil of Mist while jumping over the chasm in front of the blocking spider. Use more Veil of Mist strokes to avoid the bamboo spikes that come out from the floor and beat Tobi to the finish. Once in the next room, you'll be attacked by two ogres. Defeat them as you did the first two you fought.

Move through the doors ahead (watch out for bamboo spikes from the floor) and jump across the chasm. There's a cat statue at the top of the wall ahead, allowing you to use the Catwalk brush technique to reach the top. Use Veil of Mist to get past the blocking spider ahead, and in the next room you'll run into a few enemies.

Defeat the enemies and head outside, marching around the corner to find another Blockhead. This Blockhead has five weak spots to hit, so pay attention! If you mess up, you'll have to dodge a few falling rocks before you can try again. There's a final race with Tobi just past the Blockhead. Bomb open the cracked wall across the way, double jump to the next ledge, then quickly use the Vine brush technique to fling Amaterasu to the finish.

Move outside and follow the stairways leading up. At the top of the castle, complete the constellation by filling in the four missing stars and the enemy Ninetails will appear. It's very important to know what to do in this battle—any mistake will lead to a lot of lost health.

At the start, there's nothing you can do to harm Ninetails. She'll attack with a charging rush (double jump over her when she glows blue) and with some tail attacks. At this point, you're just buying time until she makes herself vulnerable, and you can luckily buy a bit of extra time by lighting her tails on fire. Use the Inferno brush technique to bring a stream of fire across as many tails as possible to distract the dangerous boss.

Before long, Ninetails will thrust her sword in the air, making herself vulnerable. Use Thunderbolt to connect lightning from the sky with her long sword, splitting her nine tails into separate enemies that quickly give chase. Little as they may be, these enemies pack a punch, so don't deal with them lightly. It's best to run away from them while using Thunderbolt brush strokes to strike multiple enemies at once. Each of these enemies has its own life bar, so you're not likely to kill all enemies in one go.

When Ninetails reforms, repeat the pattern of buying time until she raises her sword again. Strike it with lightning and continue chewing away at the individual baddies until Ninetails has only one tail left.

Again, Ninetails isn't vulnerable to attack right away, so you'll have to do a lot of dodging. If you see her rear up even slightly, quickly double jump to avoid the following blue rush attack. Also be sure to double jump away any time she rushes at you with her sword. After every attack, she'll pause as she catches her breath. On occasion, she'll be encased in gray as she catches her breath—strike her with a Power Slash, Inferno strike or Thunderbolt brush stroke.

Ninetails will also make herself vulnerable by thrusting her sword into the air. Use Thunderbolt to strike the sword with lightning from the sky to deal damage, then repeat the defensive patterns. It'll take a while, but before long you'll defeat the dangerous enemy.

When the dust of battle has settled, make your way back to Shinshu Field.